The Joseph Baptista Gardens, locally known as the Mazagaon Gardens, is a park in

Mazagaon Mazagaon, also spelled Mazgaon and Mazagon (Portuguese rule Mazagão), and pronounced by the Catholics as 'Mazgon' or 'Maz-a-gon' and the Marathi-speakers as Mazhgav, is one of the seven islands of Mumbai. References ;Notes {{reflist ;Sou ...

South Mumbai South Mumbai, colloquially SoBo from South Bombay in Anglo-Indian English, administratively the Mumbai City District, is the city centre and the southernmost precinct of Greater Bombay. It extends from Colaba to Mahim and Sion neighbour ...

, India. It lies atop Bhandarwada hill, behind the

Dockyard Road Dockyard Road (station code: DKRD) is a railway station on the Harbour Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. It is the stop closest to the Mazagon Dock Limited. This station gives access to Mazagaon area. There is a sales tax office within a ...

railway station, at an altitude of and offers a panoramic view of the

Mumbai harbour Mumbai Harbour (also English; Bombay Harbour or Front Bay, Marathi''Mumba'ī bandar''), is a natural deep-water harbour in the southern portion of the Ulhas River estuary. The narrower, northern part of the estuary is called Thana Creek. The ha ...

and the southern business district of the city. It was originally named after John Hay Grant, the Municipal Commissioner of Bombay (1877–1881), who built the public garden spread over above a water reservoir between 1880–1884. Shortly after India's independence in 1947, the gardens were renamed after

Joseph Baptista Joseph "Kaka" Baptista (17 March 1864 – 18 September 1930) was an Indian politician and activist from Bombay (today known as Mumbai), closely associated with the Lokmanya Tilak and the Home Rule Movement. He was the first president of Indian ...

, an Indian freedom activist from Mazagaon.

History

After the British arrived in Bombay in the 1660s, they selected Bhandarwala Hill, a basalt rocky outcrop as a site for the Mazagon Fort, that was built in 1680. However, the fort was completely razed by

Siddi The Siddi (), also known as the Sheedi, Sidi, or Siddhi, or Habshi are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. They are primarily descended from the Bantu peoples of the Zanj coast in Southeast Africa and Ethiopia, most whom arrived to ...

ruler

Yakut Khan Qasim Yakut Khan also known as Yakut Shaikhji, Yakub Khan and Sidi Yaqub was a naval Admiral and administrator of Janjira Fort who first served under Bijapur Sultanate and later under the Mughal Empire.The African dispersal in the Deccan: from ...

after he withdrew his siege on the orders of the Mughal emperor,

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

. In 1884, to address the shortage of potable water in the city, several hills were selected as storage tanks by the civic administration. Water from the

Vihar Lake Vihar Lake (Pronunciation: �iɦaːɾ is located near Vihar village on the Mithi River within the precincts of the Borivali National Park, also called the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, in North Mumbai. When built in 1860 (construction started i ...

was pumped to the Bhandarwada Hill reservoir, that was then distributed to the city. Over it the John Hay Grant park was built. In 1925, the capacity was increased to .

Park

The park is frequented by neighbourhood residents. It is mostly patronised by couples, joggers, senior citizens, and students who find peaceful corners to study. Cycas,

ixora ''Ixora'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is the only genus in the tribe Ixoreae. It consists of tropical evergreen trees and shrubs and holds around 544 species. Though native to the tropical and subtropical areas ...

, musanda, bougainvillea, and hibiscus are some of the plants found in the garden. As part of a makeover plan, the

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC; IAST: ), also known as the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), is the governing civic body of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. It is India's richest municipal corporation. The BMC ...

(BMC) earmarked to beautify the gardens. Local residents however are upset over the plans for the makeover, and have claimed that the BMC have uprooted trees, thrown away wrought iron gates. Work on the renovations is set to be completed by February 2009.

References

{{Reflist

Gallery

Joseph Baptista Garden Playing Area.jpg, Playing area for kids Lawn of Joseph Baptista Garden.jpg, Lawn Miniature Eiffel Tower at John Baptista Garden.jpg, Model of

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "'' ...

Statue of Liberty at Joseph Baptista Garden.jpg, Model of

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

Joseph Baptista Garden Gate.jpg, Main gate Parks in Mumbai

History

Park

See also

References

Gallery